greasing and cleaning nihonto

[Zaia86]

Hello!!! I have been using choji oil for oiling. and alcohol for cleaning. but when I usually leave the pieces for long periods of time without touching. I usually use a thin layer of lithium grease. What do you think of lithium grease? Oh, and finally, how do you usually clean silk when it gets dark and dirty? ito silk

[Ed Harbulak]

Lithium grease is great for it's intended purpose, but why would you even think of putting grease on a sword blade unless you want to make a real sticky mess of the inside of the saya. Choji works fine or if you are really, really worried use a very light machine oil of the type used for sewing machines. But even then, it only requires the thinnest film of oil to protect the blade. 

[Zaia86]

  On 4/23/2023 at 5:02 PM, Ed Harbulak said:

La grasa de litio es excelente para el propósito previsto, pero ¿por qué pensarías en poner grasa en la hoja de una espada a menos que quieras hacer un desastre realmente pegajoso en el interior de la saya? Choji funciona bien o, si está realmente preocupado, use un aceite de máquina muy ligero del tipo que se usa para las máquinas de coser. Pero aun así, solo se requiere una película de aceite muy fina para proteger la hoja. 

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you are partly right. lithium grease. usually leaves the saya sticky. but if it is a very thin layer it hardly gets dirty because there is not much friction. I think too much oil for wood is much worse. I have to keep an eye on the oil regularly and rust spots often appear. unfortunately I can't oil my blades every week. Regarding the silk ito, I answer myself. It's purple silk. I have taken some natural soap and rubbed with a damp sponge and a little water. it has been flawless. especially not to get tsuka too wet. just moisten the ito slightly. rub and rub. and dry with a soft hair dryer. without too much heat. is a solution

 

[b.hennick]

I have used foam soap without any fragrance. I use a clean well used soft toothbrush. The combination also works well on kodogu. Dry iron fittings completely or you will get rust.

[rematron]

Are the terms ‘tosogu’ and ‘kodogu’ synonymous? If so, why the two terms?  Did one of the terms fall into or go out of fashion at a particular time?

[drbvac]

Pretty much synonomous but I have seen Kodogo used for smaller pieces of sword furniture like fuchi/kashira and menuki.